UberAIR’s flying taxis could be in India as soon as 2023

UberAIR is all set to make flying taxis a reality.

Travelling in a flying taxi could soon be a reality, now that Uber has shortlisted India as one of the five countries where it may launch its Uber Air service in the next five years. In May, as a part of the company’s bid to eliminate congestion and provide a seamless taxi service, Uber had announced the concept of a flying taxi. It now seeks to solve traffic troubles in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi as it announced its next set of plans for the Uber Air service at an event in Tokyo on today. Along with India, Japan, Australia, Brazil and France are the other four countries that have been named as potential markets for the service. Earlier Uber had pointed out that it will first launch the service in Dallas and Los Angeles and was looking for a third international destination after talks with Dubai reportedly fell through.

The company had said that it was welcoming proposals from stakeholders from major cities in the five shortlisted countries and will be announcing the cities as soon as early next year. UberAIR, which sees NASA and Uber teaming up, plans to launch demo flights by 2020 and hopes to launch the paid service by 2023.

Uber, while shortlisting India, stated that Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru are one of the most congested cities in the world and that UberAir will offer a service that will help create a transportation option that goes over congestion instead of adding to it. According to the plan, these proposed taxis would be able to accommodate four passengers each and can fly at a speed of 200 miles per hour (322 kph).

While Uber Air seems to grab all the headlines, its parent company has also announced plans to experiment with drone delivery service for Uber Eats and also held a demonstration of how potential Uber air routes can fix the local transportation problem in Asia Pacific cities.